LIFEBOOKS
A POSTMODERN VIEW OF REALITY & PERSPECTIVES
The Lifebook Project
I initially started this project during my senior year of high school; I began with a single sketchbook dedicated to daily journaling and a place to let my creative mind run freely.
As I continued this practice, I decided to continue this hobby as it slowly grew into a piece. The current status of this project is reflected here in books 1-5. These five books inspired the first of my themed short films, reflecting on the importance of perspective and the concept of reality.
LIFEBOOKS
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Lifebook 6
This is the current Lifebook that I am working on, It contains thoughts and reflections from the second half of my Master's program, including the process of setting up my gallery show.
Where The Roads Go
The first 12 of 14 pages from my book, Where The Roads Go, were narrated for the introduction audio for my film LIFEBOOKS (2016-2023): Perspectives & Reality.
THE JOURNEY
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I was diagnosed with dyslexia in grade school and later Kleinfelter’s Syndrome (47 XXY). This made learning difficult because I don’t think in English. While this was a disadvantage for me in the American public school system, it was an advantage in all things visual. I find relief in creating because I think in colors, shapes, and lines. As some people use therapy to talk about their feelings and life events, I create paintings, drawings, and sculptures reflecting on my feelings and the forms they make in my mind. It is difficult to capture the complex emotions entwined with each of my senses. It is impossible to describe. The best comparison I have been able to make is the diagnosis of synesthesia. Synesthesia is a diagnosis that occurs when, for example, someone listens to music and can link certain types of music to colors, shapes, and patterns.
After graduating from Anna Maria College in 2022 with my BA in Graphic Design, I worked as the local UPS store’s lead designer and sales associate. During this time, I regularly worked with the customer service department. Talking with hundreds of people daily, I was inspired by the range of personalities entering our store, and I began imagining what life would be like in their shoes.
LIFEBOOKS: A Postmodern View of Reality & Perspectives is a year-long deep research on how we can benefit from listening to others’ perspectives and a window into how I have documented my life’s creative journey. In high school, my brother gave me a unique layout-styled sketchbook, which I loved. This Moleskin book contained 200 watercolor paper pages and had a page layout 4x6”. This unique composition allowed me to use each page in various ways, mainly captivating my love of landscapes. When I was halfway through the book, I ordered two more, with a goal in mind to continue using the same style for as long as possible. After completing my third sketchbook, I bought four more in the same style. This was when the start of Lifebooks came to fruition.
Project Lifebooks aims to create my life story through as many sketchbooks as it takes until I die. While I might not see the completion of this project, I will leave behind a well-documented journey of my creative career and personal life as my masterwork project. I have adapted daily thoughts and lists integrated with my artwork to describe and work out my creative process.
Where The Roads Go
During the 2020 COVID outbreak, I started compiling short stories into a book so I wouldn’t forget some of my most remarkable and exciting experiences. During this time, my grandparents moved into an assisted living home, causing a wave of family gatherings to figure out what to do with their belongings that they couldn’t bring with them.I remember visiting their house when I was younger and respecting the one space off-limits to us kids, my grandfather’s study.
His study included intriguing research papers, neat oak shelving containing various collectibles from past life experiences, and his esthetically pleasing workspace environment. It upheld the mysterious notion of a place restricted to wiser minds until it was time to clean out. My parents said I could have whatever I wanted since most of my grandparent’s belongings were bound to arrive in a storage facility. There were only two things that I wanted from his study. First, my grandfather’s favorite armchair was a mustard yellow fabric chair, a comfortable remnant from the ’60s, and his old Robin’s egg blue typewriter, which was still in mint condition. Being an artist from the digital age, I was fascinated by the concept of an analog typewriter—everything from the shiny exterior casing to the distinct sound made when finishing a line on natural paper.
With my idea for a book and the synchronistic timing of inheriting the typewriter, I managed to buy a couple of ink cartridges on eBay to begin writing my book. Before the spring mechanism broke, I wrote the first 14 pages on his typewriter, and then I switched back to digital. When I started my graduate coursework in Integrated Media Arts, I knew I wanted to make a film on perspective and reality involving my Lifebooks. However, the visual aspect was only half of the work. To integrate the film with others’ experiences with these concepts plus my own, I narrated my book’s first 14 original pages for the context of each section regarding the base point of thought related to my imaginative creation process.
The Film
LIFEBOOKS (2016-2023) Perspective & Reality was the thirty-minute short film I created during the first semester of my master’s program. This film is focused on a full visual recap of my Lifebooks from when I first started the project in 2016 to the beginning of my master’s program in 2023. In addition, I created short animations of the interviewees’ shoes driven by the phrase “Walk a day in someone else’s shoes.” The film’s overall theme was to create a relatable, introspective presentation, showcasing my visual and auditory perspective while relating to other’s insight on what the words “reality” and “perspective” meant to them. As stated earlier, while working at the UPS Store and interacting with people from all walks of life, I realized that every person brings their perspective and reality to each life situation. This is becoming more evident in today’s ever-advancing technology and fast-paced societal standards.
For example, a standard Amazon return should take about 30 seconds to complete at any given time. I remember one time while working at the UPS Store, a customer walked up to my kiosk holding his phone in front of him without saying anything. On his phone was the version of a shipping label that needed to be printed out and packaged before being brought to the store. I then asked how I could help. He pulled his phone back, typed something, and showed me what he was typing. It was a note explaining how he was deaf and couldn’t speak. This took me off guard. I had learned ASL years prior, but I forgot how to sign. What followed was a collection of handwritten notes, universally known hand signals like thumbs up, and a series of head nodding and shaking. I brought him behind the desk to review the shipping information prices and helped him with box sizes. At the end of our unique interaction, I shipped his package and received a warm smile and a thumbs up, thanking me for the help, regardless of the language barrier. With the ideology of observing multiple perspectives, it is important not to assume that the customer is simply not following directions. They may need help understanding the process. Based off of this example shows how easily it is to judge someone with an initial lack of empathy instantly instead of putting yourself in their shoes.
“But the sheep had taught him something even more important: that there was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time that he was trying to improve things at the shop. It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of something believed in and desired.” (Coelho)
Gallery
The Sound of Art
While working on my short film LIFEBOOKS (2016-2023) Perspective & Reality, I had the challenge of creating the musical score for each of the main sections of the film. As I started working on each piece, I was compelled to explore further with experimental sound. Since my first computer in high school, I have used a Garageband to make music while studying. This would keep my mind engaged by creating new tunes, but it also was a relaxing B for my usual A, B pattern work ethic. An A, B pattern is something I learned in kindergarten. For example, A would be the period where I would dedicate my time to working on an assignment, and B would be the small reward of taking a break between each section of work. This has been a helpful time management strategy for me throughout my life.
Studying sound design over the past year has taught me much more about how to listen to sound and what notes and tones can subconsciously create specific feelings through overlapping frequencies. For example, in the score for my film LIFEBOOKS
(2016-2023) Perspective & Reality: I incorporated several binaural frequencies. These frequencies are believed to enhance relaxation, positivity, and provide better sleeping experiences.
“This enhancement of brainwaves has been studied to determine their effectiveness at reducing stress, anxiety, help in sleep, and increased focus (Brown, 2023). Though highly debated in terms of effectiveness, the concept is intriguing. A 2020 study showed that inclusion of binaural beats in addition to traditional therapy reduced trait anxiety significantly compared to therapy alone or medication (Yusim and Grigaitis, 2020).” (Jung)
Another exciting potential for binaural frequencies is its use in medicine. In 2022, Ling Jiunn Loong published a study showing:
“Binaural beat audio decreases operative pain and anxiety in cataract surgery under topical anaesthesia. It may have additional benefits in modulating the tachycardic response to stress.” (Jiunn Loong)
I wanted to use binaural frequencies to relax viewers into understanding and increase positivity subconsciously, so I started researching sound design as an art form. During my research, I came across the artist Laurie Anderson.
Laurie Anderson is a skilled Multimedia artist who has created and composed many sound pieces and visual art. As compelling as her visual work may be and as it has inspired me to continue my Lifebooks
project, I was more inspired by her sound adaptations and found them to be “ear-opening.” As I worked with my sound pieces, I wanted to learn how to create narratives with sound. By researching Laurie’s sound pieces, I watched videos of her composing pieces with real instruments. Contrasting her creation methods, I worked with digital audio software and used an edited version of my voice. Much like how she would include her voice to direct the narrative, I regularly incorporated my own narration in the sound pieces. Some examples of this use of a vocal leading narrative in my work include The Work Grind, Leaving Reality - Entering Mind, and Realization of Self.
Mimicking Ancient Visual Language
As a child, I was intrigued by the fantasy genre, whether legends of ancient magic that once belonged to an advanced civilization or where the next 100 years of technological development may lead the human race. In high school, I created a language that looked convincing enough to pass as an ancient language but also gave me a sense of privacy. While journaling in class, I could write in this script and not worry about my classmates making fun of me for writing about my feelings. Over time, I have continued developing the language I call the MWaite typeface.
One main inspiration for MWaite was the spiritual properties and visual aspect of Nordic runes.
“This divine origin of the runes is telling of the power they behold. Each rune carries an ideographic link to a Norse mythological figure, an important animal, or a natural element, and knowing how to read them gives way to wisdom verging on magical abilities.” (Guide to Iceland)
Nordic runes often had individual spiritual meanings for each letter; this was believed to empower tools, weapons, and sacred spaces with a connection to the higher powers of the universe. This research led me to create the MWaite typeface based on our current alphabet. While our current alphabet lacks a spiritual connection to individual letters, the MWaite connects the visual aspect to these ancient beliefs, creating a similar sense of mystery and wonder as to what it may mean.
“The carving of a rune carried with it a whole network of symbolism and interconnected meanings, comprehensible only to those who studied them extensively.” (Guide to Iceland)
I plan to continue refining the MWaite typeface and eventually create a glossary with similar spiritual connections from each letter of the Latin alphabet to the symbols that I have made.
One man’s trash is another man’s...
I search for the proper means to captivate such natural beauty within the daily mundane by developing a sustainable practice using found objects, mixed media, and recycled materials. I often take apart old and broken electronics, toys, and tools and organize them in my studio. While eliminating waste from my creative process, I realized that deconstructing various materials created distinct memories from when each object was functioning and new. I am currently using these “waste pieces,” giving them new life as I collage them as depictions of letters of my invented MWaite language. Each letter contains various materials with their backstory as to where I got it, what it was, and what it was like, figuring out how it worked as I disassembled the object.
I was guided to research Vik Muniz for his use of unorthodox found objects and his passion for art, which usually raises awareness for sustainability.
Like Vik Muniz, who uses unconventional materials to create detailed imagery, I took a similar approach with the MWaite font tiles. While there are 26 letters in the alphabet, I wanted the letters to act as individual pieces and create a compelling composition revolving around the same sense of mystery and wonder I felt when I first created MWaite. In my studio are crates and boxes of semi-organized parts that I have collected over the years, ranging from childhood toys to old car headlights and everything in between. While I have used some of these materials for past projects, the main challenge was to come up with about 26 different mediums using these found materials for each letter of the alphabet.
A Different Look at The World
While Synesthesia often can focus on colors and shapes linked to auditory functions, My “Ribbons of Thought” simultaneously deconstruct and reconstruct elaborate colors, shapes, and lines linked to my feelings, thoughts, and memories. Ribbons of thought* is the term I use to describe the visuals I see when thinking.
Over the past year, I have realized abstract creation while working on my Lifebooks project and reviewing my life’s creative process. Mimicking the undulating Ribbons of Thought, I composed Untitled Jennings, a triptych based on my background in landscape painting. I have created a time-shifting abstract landscape from sunrise to sunset of a single place from memory.
The painting process has surpassed just being a communication method and has become a meditative healing practice. The action of reductive painting has given new light to this meditative practice. I created reductive painting using a series of sculpture tools, a fork, and a set of paint-removing brushes within the essential layering of acrylic paint. This practice requires patience. Deconstruction allows room for layers and growth, leaving behind traces of the past and showing how they can build up to something better. I imagined each layer as a wall I have created around my true personality as a reaction to traumatic events and unpleasant experiences. As I moved on to carving sections of the paint off, I thought about the future opportunities that creating such a piece would provide and how to adapt, pivot, and focus on what more extraordinary things may come instead of being stuck in past scenarios. The carved-away sections would reveal the previous layers, showing my true personality, while the uncarved sections metaphorically built lessons into my character, creating texture and experience to refer to if I am put into similar difficult situations again. While creating both “Ribbons of Thought” and “Untitled Jenning,” I was encouraged to research Gerhard Richter and his adaptations of abstraction.
Gerhard Richter’s abstracts are created with a large squeegee commonly found in silk screen printing. His works study color and how different applications create geometric patterns according to color sheets. I found his work particularly compelling, considering the unintentional resemblance within my work.
The process of absorbing the natural landscape is a practice that I started doing when I first started exploring my surroundings to get a better feeling of how I could reproduce a landscape on canvas. Instead of chasing views on different expeditions, I focused on everything I could feel, taste, smell, hear, and see within my immediate surroundings. One setting differed from the last, whether on the trail or at a campsite. I practice absorbing my surroundings using all my senses to collect information on local flora and fauna, rock formations, and the general ambiance of the time of day.